What You Don’t Know About Yaz

People who use medications according to their prescription are still at risk when drug companies and the FDA fail to warn or sufficiently protect the public from bad drugs. Despite this, many people believe that misuse, off-label use, or prolonged use of medications are what really cause serious side effects. That is why many of us harbor the misconception that people who end up suffering horrible side effects from a medication probably do so because of their own negligence or prolonged use. Nothing could be further from the truth. People can and do sucumb to serious effects from a bad drug without having years of use of that drug.

Just ask Carissa Ubersox.

Ubersox was a young nurse, newly engaged, with her whole life ahead of her. Planning to lose some weight for her wedding, she innocently decided to change her birth control pill because she heard about the miracle powers of Yaz, the popular birth control pill, to control bloating. Within three months of using Yaz, Ubersox was in a coma that lasted two weeks which left her permanently blind.

According to ABCNews.com, Ubersox developed blood clots in her legs that ended up in her lungs. She also suffered a “massive double pulmonary embolism” and ended up in a coma for nearly two weeks. How did Ubersox not know the risk?

What women don’t know about Yaz, can be deadly. Although most women assume a certain risk in taking birth control, Yaz creates a risk two to three times higher of serious blood clot. Allegations that the pharmaceutical company also engaged in illegal off label marketing, overstatements of the drugs capabilities and outright exaggeration. Although these are only allegations, the aggressive marketing campaign for Bayer’s top selling drug, Yaz, seemed more like the launch of a designer perfume than it did a birth control pill.

Yaz contains a synthetic hormone, drospirenone, which can cause stroke, Deep Vein Thrombosis (DVT), limb ischaemia, and pulmonary embolisms. Severe and unexpected results like those reported by Ubersox, may make drug companies accountable and liable for damages caused by a drug like Yaz. This is especially true when the results are so far from those expected from a medication.

The pharmaceutical company Bayer has set aside over $1 billion in reserve to settle expected lawsuits resulting from damages. However, that amount is not expected to cover the claims and neither is the company’s insurance for such claims.

Individuals and families that have suffered damages from Yaz are advised to seek legal advice.
The Yaz attorneys Solberg Stewart Miller law firm in Fargo, ND are leaders in litigation regarding bad drugs. Call the Fargo office today at 701.237.3166.